Morning Patrol
by Lycanthrope516
Summary: An accident happens on morning patrol, Nod doesn't come back.


Morning Patrol is dangerous. There are almost no boggarts but if there are then they're cranky, angry, merciless beasts that just _hate_ leafmen. Today's morning patrol consisted of Nod, Flinn, the second in command, Jace a new leafman, and a few others.

Nod leaned forward in his saddle, relishing in the feeling of the cool dawn breeze. There were not many clouds this morning and no signs of rot yet. Everything seemed fine. Only...it was eerily quiet. Everyone in the patrol was on guard all except the young jace, who had never experienced a patrol before. So naturally he did not notice the odd rustle in the leaves nearby, but the others heard. Flinn looked closer at the offending leaf, finding it rotting.

"Boggarts!" he yelled. The creatures' position was compromised causing them to attack. The leafmen made a circle as they fended off the attack. But Jace, in all the commotion, did not hear the whizzing of a rotting crossbow bolt fly straight towards him. But Nod saw it. He flew towards Jace and pushed him out of the way, but Nod wasn't fast enough to escape himself. The bold hit him in the right shoulder and he plummeted off his bird and into the depths of the forest.

He crashed through leaves and branches, on the way he hit the trunk of a tree, that snapped off the shaft of the bolt but leaving the head inside. A piece of wood got stuck in his left thigh, and his wrist was twisted. Thankfully, he hit his head and saw no more.

Ronin watched for the patrol anxiously, they should have been back by now. Finally he saw the birds in the distance, the bird count was the same as when they had left but the head count was one short. Ronin's heart skipped a beat with worry. Two leafmen walked past, supporting another with a broken leg. Flinn approached Ronin with a grim face.

"Flinn? Where's Nod?" Ronin asked, his voice did not betray him but his eyes said it all.

"We don't know." Jace approached the two commanding officers cautiously.

"General Ronin? I know what happened to Nod. He took a crossbow bolt for me which knocked him off his bird and into the forest. I don't know anything beyond that." Jace babbled slightly but after a grateful look from Flinn he left to the infirmary.

"We need to send out a search party. Now. I won't have anything less. I'll search on foot along with a few others, I also want an aerial view. Flinn you're in charge while I'm gone." Ronin walked away to get his pack, his bird, and the resat of the search party. He addressed the ten or so leafmen with a hurried explanation before setting out to find. But the forest was vast, and they could not find Nod that day.

 _fire._

That was the first thing Nod felt as he woke. He moaned in pain and looked around himself. He saw a small alcove under a tree root nearby but as he tried to stand up he found that his leg felt like a torch. He collapsed back onto the ground in silent pain as h surveyed the wood that was sticking out of his left thigh. He as he went to grab a hold of it, his left wrist flared and he let a tear escape his eyes at the bouts of hurt coursing through his body. He took deep breaths, until the pain subsided. He reached out to grab the stick once more, this time with just the right hand. His shoulder protested at the movement but he ignored the boiling sensation.

He tugged at the stick, hard. He fell back to the grown in agony, letting out a scream as the intruding object left his leg and his right shoulder jerked at the movement. His scream was long and loud. It's echo was heard all throughout the forest, even Wraithwood and Moonhaven. Once more the pain subsided and he shakily stood up on his right leg. He stumbled to the alcove nearby and but fell to the ground. He rolled into under the tree root with a shortage of breath and a spinning head. The pain was nauseating and the effort to stay awake was excruciating, so he didn't. He fell into darkness once more.

When Nod awoke once more, several days had passed since he had pulled himself into the alcove. He had lost a lot of weight and blood. His body felt hot all over and yet he was wraced with shivers. It was a fever of forty-one. It was a fever that should have killed him, but he wouldn't let go just yet. His breathing was shallow as he passed into unconsciousness once more.

"Ronin! Over here, I've found him!" Jace called, looking down to see what he tripped over only to find that it was in fact Nod's leg sticking out of an alcove under a tree root.

Ronin and Jace pulled a bruised and bloodied Nod out from under the root together. Ronin cradled the boy in his arms gently.

"Nod." He whispered brokenly.

"Ro-nin?" A small voice rasped from below, bleary brown eyes gazed up into Ronin's teary blue ones. Ronin clutched the boy closed to him in a tight hug. Nod moaned at the pressure and Ronin instantly let go to examine the damage.

"Oh my poor boy, I thought I'd lost ya." Ronin picked up Nod in his strong arms, but it took almost no effort, Nod weighed as light as a leaf ( _pun intended_ ). Ronin sped through the skies on his bird, his precious cargo in front of him.

Ronin landed quickly, making his way to the infirmary with Nod cradled in his arms. Head Nurse was already waiting with a bed prepped all Ronin had to do was set him down. Even with Nod's raging fever he could not fall unconscious. So the head nurse had to remove the bolt head while he was awake.

"Ronin, I need you to hold his torso down while I take out the bolt head." Ronin sat behind Nod and pulled his head into his lap. Ronin leaned over Nod hushing him. Nod whimpered, he had had arrows removed before but it was never a crossbow bolt head, and never one that had been stuck in him for days. Nod shook his head, he didn't want to feel this happen, tears trekked down his face as he whimpered again.

His whimpers faded away but quickly changed to screams. He jerked trying desperately to escape the pain in his shoulder but Ronin wouldn't budge. He yelled in agony, he was on _fire._ The pain was intolerable, the head of the bolt plopped into a bowl of water and that was it for Nod. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he slumped in Ronin's arms.

"Finally, he's unconscious. Now, Ronin I need you to go, we can handle it from here." The Head Nurse called for some leafmen to drag Ronin away from Nod's bedside. Ronin struggled, oh how he struggled, but in the end Flinn came and took him away.

It was three days later when Nod woke once more. He groaned and his eyes fluttered open. Ronin was so relieved to find that he had awoken.

"hey." Nod whispered.

"Hey." No more words passed between them and when the Head Nurse came back into to check on her charge she found him asleep once more only this time embraced by his father figure.


End file.
